Tuesday, September 3, 2013

WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Raw 9/2/13 Review (Emo Show)

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today we take a look at WWE Raw 9/2/13. What happens on this Labor Day edition of Raw? Let's find out and begin.

Intro time

We open up the show with Triple H and Randy Orton. Randy basically tells you that you have to respect him. If you don't, you can screw your family, friends, career, well-being, pet goldfish, 3rd grade teacher, and die. Yeah, that's a good representation of Randy's words. As Triple H continues to piss off the IWC with all this Cruiserweight talk, Daniel Bryan interrupts. After a little more pushing and shoving, Trips books DB vs Big Show for later this evening…

To add to his douchebaggery, Trips and his bitch run into Cody Rhodes. Cody starts to speak his mind about the corporation's ego trip, so this leads to Cody's career being on the line against Randy later this evening. Wow, so a lot going on in this episode and we're barely 20 minutes into the show. To be honest, I wasn't really expecting this due to the fact it's a holiday, but I like this approach. If the train is still going, why slow it down?

Dolph's spot

After a quick match between Miz and Fandango, Booker T tells Bryan to get with the program since he's fighting a war he can't win. Since Bryan is the lone wolf, he turns down his offer. Hey, it's Booker T's new job, the un-motivational speaker. He does his job well. Dolph Ziggler is getting ready for a match against Ryback, but Dean Ambrose attacks Dolph before the match. You think the referee would call off the match, but he's probably forced to not question it if he still wants a weekly check. Thanks to the attack, Ryback has an easy time defeating Dolph. One of the things I wanted to bring up is Dolph's placement since it seems a lot of people feel that Dolph has regressed a bit since losing the WHC. First of all, he's being used in the main storyline of the show. To me, that's higher on the pecking order than the WHC. In fact, the WHC has dipped quite a bit during that time since it feels more like a mid-card title than a world title. I just feel Dolph has more to gain by being apart of the heroes vs corporation storyline, so I don't think it's a big deal if Dolph's completely done with the WHC. It's just something I wanted to bring up since since it seems people think you're getting mistreated if you don't have something shiny on your shoulder and/or lose a few matches. Besides, the matches he's losing are being used to build the storyline and not as a use of punishment… Well, kayfabe punishment, not real-life punishment… massive punishment?…NEXT SCENE!

CM Punk follow-up

I like how Paul Heyman complains about the match at Night of Champions and Trips basically says 'F*** you, you're doing the match'. How will Paul get out of this one? Will he be punked? Tune in next week to find out. CM Punk does go out there to cut another good promo on this storyline. Once again, I really enjoy seeing how Punk and Pauly can work off of each other and see how the other can 1-up the other. Good segment that's worth checking out if you're curious.

Common family vs corporate family

While there's not a whole lot to discuss with the Prime Time Players/3MB match, it was a nice distraction and it's at least worth a viewing. The next match was Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes. This is what I would consider to be the best match of the night. It was given a decent amount of time and the match meant more when the audience showed so much support for Cody. While Cody did everything he could to win, it still wasn't enough and Randy wins with the RKO. After the match, Trips fires Cody Rhodes… For probably a few weeks since I highly doubt the man is truly fired. If anything, this is to add another individual to this gigantic storyline and we'll see Cody in the near future. Not sure how he'll get brought back and how it'll connect to the main storyline, but I await his return. I've enjoyed what he's done since the funeral of Rhodes Scholars, so I'll await his return with patience. Later on in the evening, Cody explains the Rhodes/McMahon family dilemma and how the McMahons have always made the Rhodes nothing but sideshow attractions. Considering Dusty Rhodes was the originator of every dancing character in professional wrestling and Goldust is the originator of every gender, confused, character in pro wrestling, I can see how there has to be something there from a real-life perspective. It was a good shoot by Rhodes and can't wait to see him return after the honeymoon.

A diva segment with a switch-a-roo?

There was a #1 Contender match to determine who gets a Divas title match. As the Total Divas beat the crap out of each other to determine who's deserves the opportunity, Harley Quinn's adopted sister joins us for commentary. It seems Naomi is about to win the match, but AJ interrupts the match since she feels none of them deserve this opportunity. All of the sudden, the Total Divas take out AJ…Huh? I don't know why since this is how the body language in the ring sold it, but why does it seem the roles for this match just flipped sides? The Total Divas taking her out as a team seems more like a heel move while you're given this scene where you're supposed to feel sorry for AJ. Yeah, I wouldn't blame you if your feelings are all over the place on this one. I need to see more with this storyline to see where it's headed, but it still has my interest because of the events of last week and tonight. I should also note that at NoC, it will be a Fatal 4-Way for the Divas title. Like I said before, this makes things rather complex to say the least.

WHC or US Championship?

You know what? I'm convinced they put Ricardo Rodriguez with RVD because they wanted Ricardo to still roll his 'r's'. So far, that has been the only proof available for pairing these two up. I know Ricardo has some beef with Alberto Del Rio, but teaming up with RVD? Oh well, let's just move on. RVD defeats Damien Sandow, Del Rio looks on, and this sets things up for their upcoming Intercon--er, I mean World Heavyweight Championship match. Yeah, that's totally what I meant to say… Totally…

Big Show tears

Okay, so it's now time I finally talk about the Big Show conundrum. I saved this segment for last due to obvious reasons you will read about in a few moments. Before I do that, let's address a few things that made me laugh. I like how Show throws a temper tantrum backstage after Steph forces him to do her bidding. No, Big Show!!! You can't break those things! You can't afford it!!! I also love how minutes after an emotional segment, the commentators jump from tears of sadness to the WWE App. Wow, Show's really having a moment here…Hey, the WWE App! Stephanie explained to us that Show is in no position to fight the corporation since he's broke. They explain that Show made some terrible decisions that made him broke but they probably could've dived deeper into the problem. I thought it would've been funny if they explained Show had a gambling problem or spent his wealth on robotic hookers, but I guess they were trying to do something a little more realistic. The reason this was brought up is Show doesn't want to fight Bryan because he considers him a friend…Even though there's been NO indication of this on the show. It isn't like you see Show and Bryan talking with one another all the time and hang out all the time. You're just supposed to accept that they're friends and nothing more. Yeah, I'll admit that was a bit of lazy writing on their part considering Kane would've been a better option in all of this since Kane and Bryan HAD that interaction on the show, but it would feel a bit strange to see Kane having to shed tears of sadness. You can see why that idea would be scraped, but let's get back to the Show/Bryan deal. Like I said, I understand the reasoning for picking Show to be in this storyline since the man plays his part very well, but it would've been nice if they showed more interaction that they're friends other than just saying 'They're friends' and nothing more. Due to Stephanie naming off Show's secrets, Show is basically forced in a corner to do the corporation's evil deeds while being very emotional about it. To be honest, there was really no point to bring up the fact that Show's broke. It would've been fine if you showed Show and Bryan being friends and then blackmail the giant to do your evil deeds. By doing that, you would've achieved the same result as what you saw tonight. I know you can argue that Show's financial issues can add more to it, but I still find it unnecessary. So, let's break it down. You're either gonna enjoy the idea that Show's broke or you're gonna hate this idea. For me, it's too early to say if I'll like it or not since I'm pretty neutral about this new information. With that said, I really liked the interaction between Bryan and Show on tonight's episode. From the beginning of the night all the way to their match where Show was forced to hit the KO punch on Bryan, it was persuading due to the fact that Show sold his emotions rather well. In fact, Show has sold his emotions very well during this entire storyline. I know people are complaining due to the fact that the program has ended the same way for three straight weeks, but you have to give these things time and learn to be patient with some of these things. It's another thing I wanted to bring up since people tend to want the payoff way sooner than it should happen and I think you just have to give it more time before you start waiving the flag. Yeah, I may have some hangups with Show having money issues or the sudden grasp of Show/Bryan's…Ummm, Twitter friendship, but the acting/storytelling can usually be the saving grace for things like this and I think it has.

Overall Impression:

I went into tonight's show not expecting a whole lot due to the fact it was a holiday and most people would be away from their television sets this week, but I would suggest checking this one out if you did miss the telecast. I personally think WWE has done a great job in the last few weeks in the storytelling department. Of course, there's gonna be a few head-scratching moments or things you aren't gonna like about it, but no storyline/segment is perfect and I think the positives cancel out most of the negatives. This has been one of the more intriguing storylines for quite some time and the storyline itself is too interesting for me to really spend a large amount of time harping over some of the little things… Even though some of those little things could at least use a polish here and there. Again, this is personal preference at the end of the day and I totally understand why some people aren't really enjoying the major storyline. It's only my opinion at the end of the day and if you don't enjoy this storyline or totally disagree with me, that's totally fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and there's nothing wrong with that at the end of the day. I liked tonight's episode and I think it's worth checking out, but take of that whatever you will. That does it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. Tell me what you thought of tonight's episode or the review. I will see you guys and girls in the next one.

You know...I can see at Survivor Series that the Evil Corporation makes Daniel Bryan make a team, but can't use anyone on the active roster. That way they could bring back Cody PLUS since the last time we saw the Undertaker was him being taken out by The Shield. So Taker comes back because he wants payback or some reason. As for the other spots...The Puerto Rican Express since they're totally not on the roster anymore!...hell if I know who the others would be, just a random theory.